Let's be honest: Many of us thought Herculez Gomez was never coming back to Major League Soccer.
Not as an active player, at least, after his very public complaints about Sporting Kansas City holding his MLS rights during his four-plus seasons in Mexico's top flight. And certainly not to one of the clubs that he so cruelly destroyed – both on the field and on social media – in several CONCACAF Champions League showdowns.
But Herc is officially back in an MLS uniform as Toronto FC's latest acquisition, and this week he dished to the TFC press pack about his reasons for finally coming home to the league where he made his name.
“It was just the right time. It's exciting times in Major League Soccer. To be quite honest, I've been having that itch for a while but I've been under contract for the last three years, so it was difficult,” the striker – who played for LA, Colorado and Kansas City before moving south of the border after the 2009 season – told reporters at TFC training.
“I'm excited to leave and come back six years later and kind of know what it was like back then [and] to see just how far it's come now. It's really amazing.”
Gomez's quiet pride and quick wit flashed to the surface when asked what the league looks like after so many years on the outside looking in.
“Well, I don't consider myself an outsider, I consider myself one of the building blocks,” he said. “To be quite honest, I was a huge MLS fan before I was a player and I got to play with a team I grew up watching, with players that I idolized, like Cobi [Jones] and Alexi [Lalas].
“For years now, there's not one team that I've been on where I don't get asked about Major League Soccer, I don't get asked about living in the US or Canada, and cities like Toronto where it's a privilege to play football in a city like this, call this home,” he added. “'What's the league like? What's the talent like?' They ask you everything. … And it's for good reason: They're starting to see those results, they're starting to see that recognition.”
